Kevin Hart is speaking out about his controversial set at Tony Hinchcliffe’s Netflix roast.
“Yes, it’s a George Floyd joke. It wasn’t a classy joke for our culture or for our viewers, but for the viewers watching the roast, if you watch the roast, you’ll understand why they’re doing it. You’ll understand why racial humor is on the table,” Hart said on “The Breakfast Club” on Tuesday. “I wasn’t shocked. That’s what they do. Look at (the roast of) Tom Brady, that’s what they do. It happens every year when they do a roast.”
As Hart noted, Hinchcliffe’s joke about George Floyd, a Black man killed by police in 2020, received particular backlash from critics. During the set, Hinchcliffe told Hart, “The black community is so proud of you. Right now, George Floyd is looking up at us all and laughing so hard he can’t breathe.”
Asked if he thought the “Kill Tony” host ever crossed a line, Hart said, “I don’t expect too much. I don’t expect anything more.”
“Tony Hinchcliffe definitely had the best set, or one of the best sets,” Hart explained. “Pete[Davidson]’s set was great too. Pete had Charlie Kirk jokes in them. Like, would I tell that joke? No. But do you know why it’s said? Yes. I don’t look at Pete as crazy. I don’t look at Tony. I know that’s what you’re trying to do. I know your style of comedy.”
Hart also emphasized that he does not want to get involved in any controversy surrounding the controversial content of his roast.
“Whatever the conversation is, my rebuttal is simple,” Hart said. “Take me out of it. I didn’t say that. If you’re upset that the night ended, that’s another story. There’s nothing I can do. This is staged.”
About a week after “The Roast of Kevin Hart” aired on Netflix, roaster Chelsea Handler called Hinchcliffe and host Shane Gillis’ jokes “racist” and “sexist.” She took particular issue with a joke Gillis told, in which he said Hart was “so short he would have to be lynched from a bonsai tree.” (Gillis claimed during the live broadcast that the joke required “three weeks of thought.”)
“It was terrible. I don’t think those jokes are funny. They’re jokes about lynching black people,” Handler said. “Lynching is not a joke. It’s worse than rape. You’re not kidding about rape, right? … I know you can’t do that, but can you say ‘lynching’?”
